This is the best keto cheesecake recipe you will try. Even people not on a low carb or keto diet love this unbelievably creamy cheesecake!
Five ingredient keto cheesecake
I’ve gotten so many requests in the past few months to come up with an easy homemade keto cheesecake recipe.
And this one is so deliciously smooth and creamy, no one would ever believe it could possibly be low carb.
But don’t just take my word for it.
This recipe currently holds over 3,000 positive reviews, from readers who have tried and love the keto cheesecake!
And the sugar free dessert is quick to whip up at home. It also includes a no bake option for those who do not wish to heat up the oven.
Also try this Keto Mug Cake Recipe
New York style low carb cheesecake
This keto cheesecake can absolutely hold its own against any traditional cheesecake.
Eat it plain, or topped with strawberries or a scoop of Keto Ice Cream.
To test the final recipe and make sure it received the seal of approval even from people not on any special diet whatsoever, I sought out the toughest audience.
This included friends who are not vegan, gluten free, or keto, and who do not normally eat healthy desserts in general.
They all LOVED the cheesecake, so you know it must be really good!
Their verdict was that if they had not known the secret ahead of time, they never would have guessed it wasn’t just like any other recipe made with traditional ingredients.
You may also like these fluffy Keto Pancakes
Sugar free cheesecake ingredients
The recipe calls for cream cheese, yogurt, pure vanilla extract, sweetener of choice, almond flour or almond meal, and optional lemon juice.
Be sure to use full fat cream cheese. For vegan keto cheesecake, choose a plant based cream cheese. I have not tried substituting low fat light cream cheese or Neufchâtel cheese so cannot personally recommend those.
Regular, dairy free, or Greek yogurt all work. If using vanilla yogurt, omit the vanilla extract in the recipe. You can also experiment with flavored yogurts such as strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, or peach!
Pro tip: Many yogurts are surprisingly high in carbs. If you are counting carbohydrates and want this cheesecake to truly be keto, seek out a low carb yogurt. My favorite is Kite Hill Greek yogurt, which is dairy free and high protein.
Pretty much any all purpose sweetener is fine, including erythritol or xylitol for a sugar free dessert.
Regular sugar, pure maple syrup, and coconut sugar also all work in the recipe. It will not be ketogenic but will still have much less sugar and fewer calories than traditional cheesecakes, while tasting just as delicious.
Use leftover almond flour in this Almond Flour Banana Bread
Keto cheesecake recipe video
Above, watch the step by step video
Keto crust options
Since most cheesecakes are already flourless, modifying the recipe to be keto friendly doesn’t require many adjustments at all.
I started with my favorite go to cheesecake and simply changed three things: the thickener, the sweetener, and the crust.
This homemade keto cheesecake crust calls for almond flour as the base. If you do not have any on hand or want a flourless option, simply pulse raw almonds or pecans in a food processor until they turn to a flour consistency.
Or you can use a different crust recipe or even make the cheesecake crustless if you prefer, and each slice will have just 200 calories and under 2 grams of net carbs.
Trending now: Keto Peanut Butter Cookies
How to make keto cheesecake
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and line the bottom of an eight or nine inch springform pan with parchment paper. Prepare your crust, if using.
Fill any baking pan about halfway with water. Place it on the oven’s lower rack.
Bring the cream cheese to room temperature so it will be easy to blend. Add all cheesecake ingredients to a blender or food processor, and blend just until smooth.
Spread this cheesecake filling over the prepared crust. Place the pan on your oven’s center rack. Bake 30 minutes for a nine inch pan or 38 minutes for an eight inch pan.
Keeping the oven door closed, turn off the heat and let the cheese pie sit in the oven for an additional five minutes. Then remove it from the oven and cool the under baked cake on the counter for around twenty minutes.
Refrigerate overnight, uncovered or very loosely covered with paper towels so that moisture can escape. It will firm up considerably during this time.
Store leftover cheesecake in the refrigerator for three to for days. Or slice and freeze in an airtight container for up to three months.
Baking tips for the best keto cheesecake
The most important thing with cheesecakes is to not overbeat the batter, which could introduce air bubbles that might burst in the oven and cause cracking.
Likewise, letting the cheesecake cool gradually prevents any sudden temperature changes that could also cause the cake to crack.
No water bath is required, but I do like to put a baking pan with water underneath the cheesecake as it cooks, which adds moisture to the oven and acts as a further buffer against the infamous cheesecake cracking.
If you want to skip the pan of water, or if your cheesecake does end up cracking for any reason, all is not lost: You can easily hide the cracks with a layer of fresh berries, whipped cream, or perhaps even some Homemade Nutella.
When you take the pie out of the oven, it should still look underdone and jiggly in the center. The cheesecake will continue to firm up considerably as it cools and extra moisture evaporates. By the next day, you will have a rich and decadent, perfectly textured keto cheesecake.
It tastes so much better than anything you’ve ever eaten from Cheesecake Factory.
If you want a no bake dessert
For a no bake cheesecake, simply replace half a cup of the yogurt in the recipe below with softened coconut butter or coconut oil.
Instead of baking the keto dessert, just chill the unbaked cheesecake until firm. Then slice and enjoy. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.
I hope you love this cheesecake as much as we all do!
The recipe was adapted from this Vegan Cheesecake Recipe.
Keto Cheesecake Recipe
Ingredients
- 24 oz cream cheese (or vegan cream cheese)
- 2 cups yogurt
- 2 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp lemon juice (optional)
- 2/3 cup erythritol (sugar or maple syrup also work for non-keto)
- 1/4 cup almond flour
Instructions
- Feel free to use a store-bought crust or make it crustless. Here's the crust I used: 2 cups almond or pecan flour, 1/4 tsp salt, 4-6 tbsp melted coconut oil OR enough water to make it slightly sticky. Combine all ingredients, pour into a lined 8 or 9-inch springform pan, press down evenly. Set aside while making the filling.To make a keto cheesecake, preheat the oven to 350 F. Fill any baking pan about halfway up with water, and place it on the oven’s lower rack. Bring cream cheese to room temperature, then beat all ingredients in a blender or food processor just until smooth (overbeating can cause cracking as it bakes). I do usually include the lemon for a classic cheesecake flavor, but it will still work if you don’t have any on hand and need to leave it out. Spread filling on top of prepared crust. Place on the middle rack (above the rack with the water pan). Bake 30 minutes (or 38 minutes if using an 8-inch pan), and do not open the oven at all during this time. Once time is up, still do not open the oven, but turn off the heat and let the cheesecake sit in the oven an additional 5 minutes. Then remove from the oven—it will still look underdone. Let cool on the counter 20 minutes, then refrigerate overnight, during which time it will firm up considerably. As I mention in the post, the cooling times are important so the cake cools gradually and thus does not crack. Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator 3-4 days, or slice and freeze if desired. If you make it, be sure to leave a review or rate it below!View Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
More Keto Desserts
Keto Cake – Chocolate or Vanilla
Mine is in the oven now. My recommendation would be to beat the cream cheese first alone to get it silky. I dumped all the ingredients together and beat with a hand beater bc I don’t have my blender handy. Mine came out clumpy when beating everything together bc the yogurt and cream cheese didn’t incorporate well.
same for me … I had SO much trouble getting the ingredients to mix together. It was just too thick. I took some out and put it in a smaller blender and still had trouble with it. So I added some cream … I didn’t know what else to do to get it out of the blender! Hope it works. It’s in the oven now.
Hi! Was your cream cheese straight from the fridge? It sounds like you just need to bring it to room temperature so the cream cheese is easily stir able before adding other ingredients. Let me know if that solves it!
Jason
I make this too but I use 1/2 almond flour and 1/2 finely chopped pecans. I also use lime In the filling to make it more like key lime cheesecake
I made this last night and it’s… okay. It’s definitely not smooth and creamy–it’s quite crumbly. But I also had trouble baking it. When I took it out of the oven it wasn’t underdone in the center; it was underdone EVERYWHERE. So I put it back in, because that’s not at all what I was expecting.
I used Neufchatel cheese, since that’s what I had on hand and I’ve used it successfully for cheesecake before. I also used whole milk Greek yogurt, and pulsed my own almonds into flour. I have no idea if any of that is to blame? I’d use the cornstarch option in the future, just because I could see the almond flour bits when I mixed everything together, and am sure they contribute to the not-creamy texture. But this is more than just bits of almond–it’s the consistency of the entire base.
Hi! Unfortunately Neufchatel cheese is not the same thing as cream cheese and would give a different outcome for sure. It is 23% lower in fat and also has more moisture, which would most likely explain why yours needed extra baking and then was overbaked and crumbly.
Jasoon
When said two cups yogurt is that any yogurt? Like Greek plain? Coconut milk plain?
Yes, both work well here!
If I want to give it a stronger lemon flavour can i add more without wrecking the recipe
You can! Just scale back other liquid somewhere. Or I’d recommend adding lemon zest instead of juice, because adding lemon zest will add more lemon flavor than juice usually in recipes.
Jason
I have guests that are dairy intolerant, nut allergy, no eggs and no gluten
is it too hard to make it edible for all people
Hi what about using Tofutti? And coconutmilk yogurt?
This is exactly what I did. It turned out amazing!
Made it this past weekend. At first it seemed too undone, I still went with it and put it in the fridge over night. But the next day it still seemed too squishy. So I brought it to room temperature and back in the oven. Looked much better. Even with the crack. (It wasn’t there at the first go around)
When we finally tasted it, it started getting great reviews. It’s a keeper!
Love the picture!
It was amazing. I had a “secret ingredient” movie night recently using this and some of your other recipes and it was all gobbled up by many surprised guests.
Have been hearing about a honey applesauce banana bread. Do you have anything like that up your sleeve? Love your site.
Ha! I love the idea of a secret ingredient night. For banana bread, what about this one? https://lett-trim.today/2017/01/16/healthy-banana-bread/%3C/a%3E%3Cbr /> Jason
Looking nice cakes thanks
I don’t think the nutrition facts jive – I did each individual ingrediate (with a coconut flour baked crust – add 2 eggs)
350 cals
30 grams of fat
6 carbs
7 protein
Is this accurate?
Hi! I’d like to try the no- bake version, but was wondering, do I bake the crust first then add filling? Thanks!
No need to bake the crust, it can also be no-bake 🙂
Just curious, has anyone tried arrowroot or tapioca flour in the filling instead of almond flour? Is this a bad idea to switch these out? Thanks!
It sounds like a fun experiment! I bet it would work. Be sure to report back if you try!
Jason
Trying to figure out what yogurt you yourself used. The coconut based yogurts I found are way high in sugar, regular plain yogurt has at least 6g of sugar also.
Hey! Try unsweetened coconut yogurt such as sodelicious brand.
Is there any chance I could use sugar free syrup as my sweetener in place of the erythritol? How much would I use, & how dramatically would it change the carb count overall?
I don’t see why you couldn’t use it! We haven’t tried and so can’t say how much to use, but please be sure to report back if you experiment! 🙂
Jason (media relations)
Sugar free syrup is loaded with chemicals. I would go with the natural sweeteners such as erythritol.
Hi Katie, I absolutely love this recipe and have made it a couple of times. Unfortunately my husband can’t handle yoghurt something to do with the fermentation process. Do you think substituting the coconut yoghurt for coconut cream would still work?
Thanks
Penny
That’s on Katie’s to do list as something to try, and we *think* it should work (we don’t see why not!) but haven’t tried it yet. If you try it before us, be sure to report back!
Jason (media relations)
Wow pleasantly surprised how this turned out. Best part is that it got rave reviews and everyone wanted the recipe.
I must admit I was a little nervous about making this after reading some of the comments. I make it for my daughter in law birthday. She and my son have been following the Keto lifestyle and cheesecake is her favorite dessert. It was a huge success, even my picky 17 year old grandson loved it. I decorated it with fresh strawberries and blackberries and people thought it came from a bakery. I followed the direction to the letter and only had a little cracking which I could hide with the fresh fruit. Thanks for the great recipe. My son who is a great cook was very impressed with my finished product.
I love your idea to use blackberries. I always see them at the grocery store and never know what to do with them. Think I need to make this cheesecake again 🙂